Team kilts? That's correct!

Unusual attire for St. Joseph's Quiz Bowl team at tourney.

Unusual attire for St. Joseph's Quiz Bowl team at tourney.

January 10, 2006|JIM MEENAN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- The boys dressed in kilts, the girls walked in on stilts. Well, if you are talking about the fun-loving St. Joseph's High School Quiz Bowl team in the Brownsburg Dogfight this season, that statement's half right. Yes, four senior boys who have helped the Indians carve a 7-3 record this year in Quiz Bowl competition really did show up dressed in kilts that December day. Actually, four of the eight starting seniors, plus a junior varsity player, wore the unique attire for the Brownsburg tourney, where the Indians took fourth place. "There were lots of comments," Ping Wong, one of varsity members who wore the kilts, said. "We wore ties and white shirts, too. "We like to have lots of fun. We may do it again, too." Neehar Garg said he couldn't imagine doing such a thing with any other team but one as close as this one. "But I have known these guys for a long time," he said. "So it just sort of happens." All eight varsity members are seniors. Seven are National Merit Scholarship semifinalists. And most importantly, all seem to get along and enjoy each other's company. "When we have a team meeting this actually happens instead of actually practicing," Garg said, motioning to his teammates who created a loud buzz in the classroom with their conversation prior to practice. But so does plenty of winning as evidenced by their high finish in the St. Joseph Valley Quiz Bowl standings. "We have a lot of fun but we try to be as successful as we can," Garg said. "When we get into matches we still take it seriously enough to try to win it, but never enough that we go ballistic if we lose." Having a team of eight seniors for the varsity is atypical, Coach Ben Dillon said. "This is just such a close-knit group that I definitely wanted to win with all eight of them and take a shot at running to state," he said. Other team members include John Robinson, the player whose family supplied the kilts, plus Beth Nieman, Claire Fallon, Alan Huang, Rob Jones and Rachel Hamburg. Dillon said the team's strength is anything and everything. "They all have different specialties and have sort of carved out different niches for each other," he said. Robinson, who said his strength is history, and Garg are the top point-getters. "You don't have to really have brain power to do well. What you need is a tendency to pick up stupid facts when you are reading," Garg said, giving as an example the capital of a state or a country. "I will be looking at a map and it will stick in my head for some reason." Whatever the result or method, the team enjoys playing the game, too. "I think it's fun," Robinson said. "I just enjoy answering questions. It lets me show off ... which is kind of nice." Hamburg, whose strength is art, literature and social sciences, enjoys the whole experience, too. "I love it," she said. "It's really diverse and everybody does different extracurriculars when we come together. It's really neat when we come together, we can all kind of hang out." The Indians' next goal is to finish high enough in the upcoming St. Joseph Valley Quiz Bowl conference tournament to be one of the teams from the conference to qualify for state. Amid all the fun and conversation, the team takes it seriously enough that if someone answers a question incorrectly that someone else knows, they may get a quick note from a teammate. "It's intense," Hamburg said. "You get really tense when you are there and you are listening to the questions. It's hard for me because I am not as quick on my feet, or on my thumb as everyone else is." But on the whole, the team has been quick enough and correct enough for a thumbs up season at St. Joseph's. Staff writer Jim Meenan: jmeenan@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6342